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Estate Planning

Wills, Trusts & Estates Prof Blog

A resource to enhance the teaching of courses that address intestate succession, wills, trusts, estate administration, non-probate assets, planning for disability, and other matters pertaining to estate planning.
By Gerry W. Beyer

Post Frequency: 44.9/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 14:00:00

Creating a Durable Power of Attorney

Posted on May 31, 2009
A durable power of attorney is a document that gives someone power over another person's financial affairs. The benefits of, and advice for creating, a durable power attorney are discussed in a recent article. The article stresses the importance of...

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on May 31, 2009
Here are the top downloads from April 1, 2009 to May 31, 2009 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 92 Copyright's Hidden...

Failure to draft will contributes to attorney's suspension from the practice of law

Posted on May 30, 2009
On January 29, 2009, an Austin lawyer was suspended from the practice of law for three years, with the first year to be actively served with the remaining two years probated. Here is a description of her conduct as found...

Funeral Home Lets Bodies Drip and Decay

Posted on May 30, 2009
A national funeral home corporation is under investigation for improper handling of mortal remains, including the remains of U.S. military personnel headed for Arlington National Cemetery, at the National Funeral Home in Falls Church, Virginia. A former employee alleges that...

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Astor Estate Update

Posted on May 29, 2009
I have posted multiple blogs on the trial of Mrs. Brooke Astor's son, Anthony Marshall, including here and here. The following is an update on how the trial is progressing. The 30+ wills and amendments that were executed by Mrs....

Estate Planning Lawyer & Family Found Dead

Posted on May 29, 2009
Last month the body of William Parente, an estate planning attorney, was found with the bodies of his wife and his two daughters in a Baltimore hotel room. Here is a time line of what occurred in this unfortunate case:...

Estate Taxes in 2010

Posted on May 29, 2009
Under the Bush tax cuts of 2001, the estate tax was supposed to fully disappear for the year 2010 and resume in 2011. Instead, President Obama is assuming that the 2009 tax levels will carry over for 2010. There are...

Texas Probate Fee Survey results now available

Posted on May 29, 2009
Richard Bischoff (Attorney, El Paso, Texas) has recently compiled the results of his survey of how Texas probate lawyers charge for estate planning services. The complete results of his survey are available here. Here are some of key results: By...

Dean John E. Cribbet dies

Posted on May 28, 2009
It is with a heavy heart that I report on the passing of Dean John E. Cribbet (University of Illinois College of Law) on May 23, 2009. Although I visited with Dean Cribbet only a few times while studying at...

Evelyn A.J. Hall -- Update

Posted on May 28, 2009
I previously posted an update on the controversy surrounding the Jolika Collection at the M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco. Here is what has developed since the last post. San Fransisco agreed to sell 76 pieces from the...

Family Trust Companies

Posted on May 28, 2009
Iris J. Goodwin (Associate Prof. of Law, Univ. of Tennessee Knoxville School of Law) has posted her article on SSRN entitled How the Rich Stay Rich: Using a Family Trust Company to Secure a Family Fortune, Univ. of Tenn. Leg....

Trusts -- Australian Style

Posted on May 28, 2009
Mark Leeming (Faculty of Law, Univ. of Sydney Law School) has written a new article entitled What is a Trust?, 7 Trusts Quart. Rev. 5 (2009). Here is the abstract of the article from the SSRN version of his article:...

Probate and Divorce in Tennessee

Posted on May 27, 2009
In a student note, Hailey H. David discusses why Tennessee should adopt a broader statute for revoking provisions in favor of an ex-spouse or the ex-spouse's relatives in wills and will substitutes. Hailey H. David, Note, The-Revocation-Upon-Divorce-Doctrine: Tennessee's Need to...

Consenting to A Posthumous Child

Posted on May 27, 2009
In a student comment, Amanda Horner discusses the range of approaches for determining if a parent consented to a posthumous child and suggests a method for courts to adopt when making this determination. Amanda Horner, Comment, I Consented to What?:....

"The Richest Man in Town" Recently Published

Posted on May 26, 2009
"In his new book The Richest Man in Town (Business Plus, 2009), [W. Randall] Jones has come up with a list of the 100 richest people by town in the largest cities in almost every states in the U.S." Business...

Intestacy in the United Kingdom

Posted on May 26, 2009
The benefits of dying testate in the United Kingdom are very similar to those in the United States. These benefits and a brief discussion of intestacy rules in the UK are discussed in the article below. One interesting characteristic of...

Same-sex marriages may no longer be performed in California

Posted on May 26, 2009
Earlier today (May 26, 2009), the California Supreme Court by a 6 to 1 vote agreed with the citizens of California that same-sex marriages are banned because of Proposition 8 which was passed in November. However, the court also held...

Should a fiance/financee have rights?

Posted on May 25, 2009
Under the law of most, if not all, states, the non-legal status of being someone's finance or fiancee gives that person no rights upon the partner's death or disability. As described in William Wan, A Life Lost, a Plan Derailed,...

Frozen Body Storage Tour

Posted on May 25, 2009
Alcor is one of the businesses which provides (hopefully) life extension by the use of cryonics. According to its website: The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is the world leader in cryonics, cryonics research, and cryonics technology. Cryonics is the science...

Happy Memorial Day

Posted on May 25, 2009
With the sincerest appreciation to all who have died in our nation's service. Follow this link for detailed information on Memorial Day.

Top SSRN Downloads

Posted on May 24, 2009
Here are the top downloads from March 24, 2009 to May 23, 2009 from the SSRN Journal of Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law for all papers announced in the last 60 days. Rank Downloads Paper Title 1 282 2008 Developments...

Charitable Giving Through Donor-Advised Funds

Posted on May 24, 2009
Donor-advised funds are an investment tool for donors who want to avoid the hassle of a traditional foundation by giving to a charitable fund managed by someone else. The use of these funds and transfers from foundations appears to be...

First legal assisted suicide occurs in Washington

Posted on May 23, 2009
In November 2008, Washington became the second state (Oregon was the first) to authorize physician-assisted suicide. On May 21, 2009, Linda Fleming (66 years old and a resident of Sequim, Washington) used the new procedure to self-terminate. Linda was in...

Astor Update: History Repeats Itself

Posted on May 23, 2009
I recently posted an update on the contest surrounding the estate of the late Mrs. Brooke Astor here. Fifty years ago, Mrs. Astor herself faced accusations similar to one of the accusations currently asserted against her son. Note, however, that...

Natalie Cole receives a directed kidney donation

Posted on May 22, 2009
Natalie Cole (singer and daughter of Nat King Cole) received a kidney transplant on May 19, 2009 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. The kidney came from an anonymous donor who recently died. Her family said she was...

Interested Witness Without Knowing It

Posted on May 22, 2009
On April 27, 2009, a New York court held that a necessary witness to a will was an interested witness and was denied benefit under the will, even though his benefit under the will was unknown. The respondent in the...

Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Trustee Disclosure Proper

Posted on May 21, 2009
"The Kentucky Supreme Court . . . is raising eyebrows with a recent ruling that says the bank trustee of a living trust was right to tell a group of charities they had been cut from an elderly woman's will."...

Man caught smuggling drugs for assisted suicide

Posted on May 21, 2009
Jeff George Ostfeld (Las Vegas, Nevada) was denied on May 18, 2009 at the Progreso International Bridge on charges that he smuggled animal tranquilizers to be used in assisted suicides. Jeff is also under investigation by Mexican police who claim...

Life insurance text published

Posted on May 21, 2009
Louis A. Mezzullo (Partner, Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP, Rancho Santa Fe, California) has recently published the Second Edition of his text entitled An Estate Planner's Guide to Life Insurance. Here is the publisher's description of this book: Written...

Autopsy -- A way to obtain closure or to place blame?

Posted on May 20, 2009
An interesting discussion of the pros and cons of having an autopsy performed on a deceased family member is found in Denise Grady, The Autopsy, a Search for Reassurance, NY Times, May 19, 2009. The article discusses the personal story...

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